Landslide of charges

Pawar Government in fresh dereservation scam.

At first sight, the cluster of buildings rising from the shimmering salt sands seems a mirage. But it is actually the beginnings of a new. unplanned city which is at the centre of the latest, multi-crore land scandal engulfing Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar.

The decision of the state Government to dereserve 10,500 hectares of land for urban development in the picturesque Vasai taluka, 60 km north of Bombay, has brought forth a volley of charges of corruption, racketeering and environmental degradation.

That Pawar had again landed in trouble became clear last fortnight, when Janata Dal leader and former deputy chief minister N.K. Tirpude petitioned the governor for permission to prosecute the chief minister and his aides under the Prevention of Corruption Act, while an RSS activist, Sudhir Phadke, moved Bombay High Court for a stay in the dereservations.

After Pawar became chief minister two years ago, the Government came up with a draft development plan for Vasai permitting the urbanisation of a massive S,500 hectares. Even before the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) formally took charge as the planning authority for the area in December 1988, local officials granted building permissions to scores of builders. The Vasai building boom was on.

After announcing the new plan for Vasai, the Government, however, postponed its approval as elections were round the corner, and opposition to the plan was expected. But in May this year, Pawar's Government more than made up for lost time when it not only sanctioned the plan, but added another 2,000 hectares to the TJ' (Urbanisable) zone, even as it increased the 'G' (Green) zone by a few hundred hectares. It also replaced BMRDA with the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).

The decision immediately attracted flak. Tirpude alleged that upto Rs2.000 crore had "changed hands in connection with the decision". The stakes are undoubtedly high - an acre of prime land can now fetch Rs 50 lakh (against Rs 50,000 before the urbanisation), while apartment prices have more than trebled in the last three years. Sadanand G. Warty, a former MLA from Vasai and a Janata Dal leader asserts there is a strong nexus between smugglers, builders, politicians and bureaucrats. Says he: "Even Pawar and two of his ministers are named in 'benami' transactions."

Rally against urbanisation

Local groups are up in arms against the Government's plan to urbanise Vasai.

Local groups are also up in arms. Spearheading the agitation is a Roman Catholic priest, Father Francis D'Britto, who is the driving force behind the Harit Vasai Sanvrakshan Samiti (a green group) formed last year that demonstrated its popularity by organising a huge morcha against the urbanisation.

But the movement suffered a setback in the Assembly poll earlier this year, when the Congress(I)'s Hitendra Thakur, a local builder, won from Vasai. Thakur is the younger brother of the notorious Jayendra Thakur, a close associate of the Dubai-based smuggler Dawood Ibrahim. The Thakur brothers' clout is considered an important factor behind the dereservations. "The Government and builders are hand in glove with musclemen. We can fight the first two but everyone's terrified of muscle-men," says D'Britto.

Though there is no official record of the total number of buildings that have sprung up, one estimate puts the count at at least 3,000 new buildings, and 1,500 illegal structures. An industrial area has come up too, largely containing small-scale plastics and electronic units. Predictably, the population has increased rapidly - from 2.5 lakhs in 1981 to about 6.5 lakhs today.

The urbanisation hasn't kept pace with the development of civic amenities. There is an acute water shortage, the drainage is virtually non-existent, the roads in a state of total disrepair, and the electricity supply intermittent. Last fortnight, in fact, irate residents burned down the Maharashtra State Electricity Board office in Vasai, protesting against the unreliable electricity supply.

Sharad Pawar

Worse, there is no civic body with the resources to provide essential services. Even the appointment of CIDCO as the new planning authority is unlikely to improve the situation as the corporation's role would only be to prepare a master plan for the area, not provide civic amenities. "We are faced with total collapse. I cannot even imagine what the situation will be after further development," said Marcus D'abre, Green Vasai secretary.

Pawar's office maintained that he could not comment on Vasai as the Assembly was in session. But the new Urban Development Secretary, D.T. Joseph, defended the clearance of the Vasai plan as a necessity for checking haphazard development. "We brought in CIDCO as it has more experience with planning townships," he declared.

But by the time CIDCO devises a master plan, the topography of Vasai may have changed forever. Pointing out that Vasai is situated between the industrial zones of Bombay, Thane, and Vapi in Gujarat, Hitendra Thakur says it's the best place to live in for people working in the industrial belts.

But with Vasai's residents willing to move court and take to the streets to protect the area, the Pawar Government may be faced with many roadblocks in its attempt to transform the pastoral community into a concrete jungle.